What does one say? To go on about how well Havent played and made the most of their day would only sound patronizing and I suspect they’ve had enough of that by now. They didn’t get to the forth round of the cup without being a decent side and we haven’t found ourselves in the situation we find ourselves these days without being a little fragile. Havent seized on this and made things difficult for us, for while, however we came through and for all the hysteria about us being behind twice it is us that play in the fifth round. Defeat, after everything else that has gone on recently, would have been er interesting. What price Hicks tapping up Havent’s manager as another insurance policy!

Rafa made some changes but paid Havent some sort of respect by putting Gerrard, Torres, Carragher and Kuyt on the bench. Their first goal was simply poor defending on our part. Sloppy stuff from Skrtel in needlessly conceding the corner and non existent defending from it to allow Pacquette to score. I guess this rattled us for a while seen with their high ball in the area which Itandje just couldn’t seem to get hold of after three tempts stranding himself in no mans land leaving Havent to waste a good chance.

Lucas restored normality with the best goal of the day, a cracking bent shot that gave Scriven no chance. “Ok that’s it, now lets get on with scoring lots of goals” Nope, not yet. Finnan’s attempts to deal with Potter failed miserably and the ball limped over the line after taking a deflection off Srktel to underline a less than impressive debut. The scorers name gave the BBC Commentator chance to mention Harry Potter for us, defence wise; it was more like Beatrix Potter!

Benayoun then took on the role as the nation’s party pooper by leveling after Babel and Pennant worked the ball through the Havent defence, and then shooting in off the underside of the bar from Pennant’s cross. His hat trick was completed after Babel cut in from the right a fired a right foot shot that Scriven could only parry into the Israeli’s path for a simple finish. It was almost 4-3 when Jordan’s point blank header was pawed away by Itandje however all doubt was extinguished when Gerrard’s cross was tapped in by Crouch.

After the game the Kop, our players and Rafa were generous in their appreciation of Havent and quite rightly. Although we won by a comfortable margin and five scored once more, this game, as with Luton in the last round, doesn’t tell the full story. Once more we’ve struggled against sides we really shouldn’t. Although on both occasions we’ve won through but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Relief? A bit even though it was never really in doubt and perhaps worth the wobble to see the Soccer Saturday’s team reaction to the Havent goals! A lesson not to be complacent? Very much so. A wake up call? Let’s hope so but this isn’t the first. How many more do we need?